Page 22 November 26, 2009 EL SEGUNDO HERALD

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City Council from front page

The “yous” in the commercial encompass the full gamut of community members from businesspeople to kids to families,” explained Shannon Earle, President of Shannon David, Inc., the creative services firm responsible for the ad as well as the City of El Segundo’s ongoing business development and branding campaign. “The spot serves as a reminder that while El Segundo has evolved into a major commercial hub, it has never forgotten its small town roots and dedication to serving its populace—both business and residential.”

The cable ad is the latest component of a comprehensive marketing effort geared at fostering business recruitment and retention. Launched in 2005 and spearheaded by Earle and company, the program has spawned a dedicated website (www.elsegundobusiness.com), new in-print and online promotional materials, plus a revamped City logo and ligature with the accompanying tagline “The City That Invests in You.” High-profile print ads in publications such as Los Angeles Business Journal as well as a quarterly City business e-newsletter have also helped to expand El Segundo’s outreach.

By all accounts, the program is working wonders. In 2006, El Segundo won the first-ever Eddy Award as “The Most Business Friendly City” in Los Angeles County, top-ping 87 other municipalities in the process and garnering special recognition from the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. And over the last several years, the City has welcomed a diverse array of prominent business newcomers, including Gehry, Plaza El Segundo, international medical device manufacturer KARL STORZ, retail giant Tesco, several major data centers, and, most recently, Source Interlink Media (pub-lisher of Motor Trend and other renowned enthusiast magazines), just to name a few of the key arrivals.

“Even in a difficult economy, we’ve contin-ued to draw strong interest from prospective

business tenants who like our location, our low taxes, competitive lease rates and other amenities,” said Assistant City Manager Bill Crowe, who heads up El Segundo’s business development program. “And we have plenty of prime Class A office space available, especially now that some of our aerospace firms have consolidated their operations in other parts of town. The availability of great space at the right price has enticed a who’s who of companies over a wide range of industries to set up shop in El Segundo and we’re happy to accommodate them.”

Adding another feather to El Segundo’s cap, five local businesses made the Los An-geles Business Journal’s just-released list of the 100 fastest growing private companies in the county. The group includes Neogov (13), Wpromote (69), iSpace (77) and Design People, Inc. (85). The fifth, CandyWarehouse (45), is moving to El Segundo from Irwin-dale in January and is another example of the City’s business recruitment successes. At a heavily attended November 2 gala event atop the Andaz Hotel on the Sunset Strip, El Segundo Mayor Kelly McDowell held court as one of only two presenting sponsors (along with Union Bank) to get up to the podium and announce the winners. In addi-tion to handing out plaques to three of the top companies and smiling for the cameras, McDowell tossed in a quick pitch touting El Segundo’s many virtues. Afterwards, Crowe reported that several of the attendees approached him, expressing more than a passing interest in relocating their firms to El Segundo. “Business development is critical to the City’s success and a big part of that is getting out there, being proactive, and making sure people remember us,” Crowe added. “It’s a philosophy that continues to work well for us.”

To view the City of El Segundo’s new commercial, go to YouTube.com and enter the search term “El Segundo business people.”

film day cap in residential impact areas, create a 300-foot radius impact zone surrounding any filming location, designate permit categories to determine how much community protest can stop a shoot (e.g. as little as one person can stop a street closure), and limit filming hours to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The resulting document so impressed the California Film Commission that it was hailed as a model for other cities.

But six months later, El Segundo Unified School District Superintendent Geoff Yantz came back to the Council asking for 10 additional filming days at the high school, noting that the campus had already used up its 20-day quota and could not generate any additional film-related revenue until November 2009. With an average film day yielding $6,000, the potential revenue losses over time were significant.

In response, Mayor McDowell and Coun-cilmember Bill Fisher reconvened the Council subcommittee to re-engage the stakeholders in an attempt to resolve the matter once and for all. While the Council did not support Fisher’s September motion to allow 40 annual filming days, the members did agree to add five more days to the original 20. To further foster filming at the high school without impacting neighbors, Councilmember Carl Jacobson noted that an area in the center of the high school quad is “not within 300, 275, 250 feet of residents.” He suggested that production crews move their vehicles, equipment and generators there. The Council then voted to allow unlimited “non-impact” filming days and to change the residential non-impact zone to anything outside of a 275-foot radius surrounding any filming loca-tion. To qualify as non-impact, light, sound, smell and vibration must be imperceptible to properties surrounding the site.

Another key provision allowed the City to hire its own onsite film monitor (paid for by the production company) to enforce the ordinance and even shut down production if there are egregious violations. Also included in the September round of discussions was the move to cease filming at 9 p.m. That decision, along with the nix on weekend filming, drew fire from film industry officials, leading to last Tuesday’s final set of fixes that may have achieved the best compromise for all concerned.

Calling it a “much better ordinance today” than any previous drafts, Fisher thanked the

many parties involved over the three-year process. “Residents will be much more protected while at the same time we’re not turning off production,” he said.

H1N1 Clinic CanceledAn agenda item to schedule an H1N1

(formerly known as swine flu) vaccination clinic in El Segundo fell by the wayside after Fire Chief Kevin Smith told the Council that Los Angeles County had decided not to hold such events in “smaller venues.” Future clinics will take place in locations such as Carson’s Home Depot Center, Hollywood Park and Dodger Stadium. “So essentially we missed our opportunity,” lamented Mayor Pro Tem Eric Busch, referring to the November 14 clinic postponed in El Segundo due to concerns about vaccine supplies. However, Smith noted that the local event would have been canceled anyway because of the spate of problems reported at previous venues.

Mayor McDowell said he understood the County’s reasoning for the decision, citing crowd management issues and the lack of ample doses at smaller venues. He encour-aged residents to contact the City for input on where to go to get vaccinated. Smith explained that the clinics are geared towards individuals who cannot access the vaccine from their doctors—although the private medical industry has secured 80 percent of the available doses with the balance going to the county.

Smith reported that City staff had looked into where to find the vaccine locally and learned that nothing was available at Rite-Aid. However, Walgreens received 200 doses last Tuesday and still had 150 left at the time of the Council meeting. “There’s no science to when they’ll receive the doses,” said Smith, who emphasized that because of the short supply of the vaccine, the County only announces clinic locations two weeks in advance.

According to Smith, the groups most at-risk for H1N1 are children, pregnant women, adults who work around children, emergency medical provider and adults up to their mid-40s. Seniors are at the bottom of the priority list.

“This strain impacts the elderly less,” he said. Through a combination of receiving standard flu shots in the past and being ex-posed to similar strains, it seems that older people as a rule may have built immunity to H1N1.

go out into society and make some serious coin. Cuz as we all know, it’s all about the Benjamins.

The $2,500 increase will run the cost of a year’s tuition in the UC system to more than $10,000 a year. And that doesn’t include the cost of books, housing, pot or beer.

Students and professional protestors had been rabble-rousing before the Regents’ vote, but to no avail. Other than to get 14 or so of the protesters arrested and escorted to clink.

Said UC President Mark G. Yudoff after the committee voted to raise the fees: “I hate to say it, but if you have no choice, you have no choice.” Less pot, less beer, kids. Sorry. Glad that I have graduated. Did take me about 10 years, but that was then, this is now.

The long-term effects of the recession and the fact that the state of Cali is running

billions of bucks in the red have made it necessary to shift more of the financial burden of paying for college back to the students and their families, and away from the money mis-managers in Sacramento. Good deal, run the State’s fiscal business into the ground, then try to recoup some of the funds from the hard-working, beer-drinking, pot-smoking kids and their rich mommies and daddies.

As the at-times overwhelmed students and their cash-strapped families are asked to pony-up again, and again, one has to wonder how many overpaid mucky-mucks populate the UC systems’ payrolls?

Titled and entitled folks with this degree and that degree, doctors of this and that. Gotta believe that there is some fat to trim there, don’tcha?

One year from Governor Moonbeam re-turning to Sacramento, folks... •

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